This week’s best home entertainment: from The Marvelous Mrs Maisel to Marriage Story

It’s back to 1950s New York for Rachel Brosnahan’s housewife-turned-comic, while breaking up is hard to do for Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson

The Marvelous Mrs Maisel

Rachel Brosnahan is back as the 1950s housewife-turned-comic Mrs Maisel for the third season of this likeable, low-stakes comedy on social mores and New York nightlife. Last season ended with Maisel on the cusp of stardom, as well as receiving a proposal from doctor Benjamin, but if her personal life is too rosy where will she take her material from?
From Friday 6 December, Amazon Prime Video

Blindboy Undestroys the World

One half of Irish comedy duo Rubberbandits, the carrier bag-wearing Blindboy sets his sights on investigating the biggest problems facing young people in 2019 in this new series. And all with the help of a talking fish.
From Sunday 1 December, BBC Three

Rupert Murdoch with the first issue of the Sun in 1969
Aussie rules… Rupert Murdoch with the first issue of the Sun in 1969 Photograph: PA Photos/PA

The Sun King

David Dimbleby has been following Rupert Murdoch’s trajectory since the tycoon first arrived in Britain in the 1960s to take over the News of the World. In this new podcast, he investigates in detail how Murdoch’s media empire has become one of the most powerful and perhaps insidious forces in the nation.
Podcast

Truth Be Told

Octavia Spencer plays journalist and podcaster Poppy Parnell, confronting the potential mistakes in the murder story that made her a national sensation 18 years before. Aaron Paul is the embittered object of her piece in this series exploring our fascination with true crime and willingness to put understandable narratives before the truth.
From Friday 6 December, Apple TV+

The Confession Killer

One of the world’s most prolific serial killers? Or one of the criminal justice system’s worst hoaxes? This is the central question posed in this series on Henry Lee Lucas, a drifter who confessed to almost 600 murders and who then gained massive notoriety, only for recent investigations and DNA testing to reveal there is hardly any evidence to place him at many of the crimes.
From Friday 6 December, Netflix

Seamus Heaney
Poetic licence… Seamus Heaney. Photograph: Antonio Olmos

Seamus Heaney and the Music of What Happens

For fans of Heaney’s emotive and evocative poetry, and newcomers alike, this beautiful film traces the great Irish writer’s life through his work, featuring readings from the man himself and interviews with his surviving family.
Saturday 30 November, 9.45pm, BBC Two

Tagged: Life on Lockdown

Following three young men as they live their lives while on an electronic tag curfew, this series is an insightful look at this tech-based alternative to imprisonment, which can be just as stigmatising and confining as jail. “I feel like a caged animal,” says 17-year-old Kian, who now faces jail, too.
From Wednesday 4 December, BBC Three

Hala

Jada Pinkett Smith executive-produces this tender and touching drama of a high-school Pakistani American teen as she moves away from her Muslim faith and closer to her crush. Newcomer Geraldine Viswanathan gives a superb performance in the title role, longing for a safe place between her two cultures.
From Friday 6 December, Apple TV+

Karen Black and Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces
Counter active… Karen Black and Jack Nicholson in Five Easy Pieces. Photograph: Allstar

Five Easy Pieces

An early Jack Nicholson hit that marked him for superstardom. His feckless wandering minstrel, Bobby Eroica Dupea, is born of a well-to-do musicians’ family but prefers working the oil rigs to playing the piano. Karen Black and Susan Anspach are the women he scorns, in Bob Rafelson’s raw and achingly poignant 1970 drama.
Sunday 1 December, 3.45am, Sky Cinema Greats

Marriage Story

Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson star as a married couple fumbling their way through their imploding relationship in this much-lauded feature from Noah Baumbach. We witness a love story in reverse as canny divorce lawyers Laura Dern and Ray Liotta feed on the couple’s simmering resentments. A deeply felt tale of flaws and forgiveness.
From Friday 6 December, Netflix

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